Isaiah 13

¹ Proclamation about Babylon, seen by Isaiah son of Amoz.

² On a bare hill hoist a signal, shout for them, beckon them to come to the Nobles' Gate.

³ I have issued orders to my sacred warriors, I have summoned my heroes to serve my anger, my proudchampions.

⁴ The noise of a great crowd in the mountains, like an immense people, the tumultuous sound ofkingdoms, of nations mustering: it is Yahweh Sabaoth marshal ing the troops for battle.

⁵ They come from a distant country, from the far horizons, Yahweh and the instruments of his fury to laythe whole country waste.

⁶ Howl! For the Day of Yahweh is near, coming like devastation from Shaddai.

⁷ This is why al hands fal limp, why al the men are losing heart;

⁸ they are panic-stricken, seized with pains and convulsions; they writhe like a woman in labour, theylook at one another appal ed, with feverish faces.

⁹ Look, the Day of Yahweh is coming, merciless, with wrath and burning anger, to reduce the country toa desert and root out the sinners from it.

¹⁰ For in the sky the stars and Orion wil shed their light no longer, the sun wil be dark when it rises, andthe moon will no longer give its light.

¹¹ I am going to punish the world for its wickedness and the wicked for their guilt, and put an end to thepride of the arrogant and humble the haughtiness of despots.

¹² I shal make people scarcer than pure gold, human life scarcer than the gold of Ophir.

¹³ This is why I am going to shake the heavens, why the earth wil reel on its foundations, under thewrath of Yahweh Sabaoth, the day when his anger ignites.

¹⁴ Then like a hunted gazel e, like sheep that nobody gathers in, everyone will head back to his people,everyone wil flee to his native land.

¹⁵ Al those who are found wil be stabbed, al those captured wil fal by the sword,

¹⁶ their babies dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses plundered, their wives raped.

¹⁷ Look, against them I am stirring up the Medes who care nothing for silver, who set no value by gold.

¹⁸ Bows wil annihilate the young men, they wil have no pity for the fruit of the womb, or mercy in theireyes for children.

¹⁹ And Babylon, that pearl of kingdoms, that splendid jewel of the Chaldaeans, wil , like Sodom andGomorrah, be overthrown by God.

²⁰ Never again will anyone live there or reside there for al generations to come. Never again wil theArab pitch his tent there, or the shepherds bring their flocks to rest.

²¹ But beasts of the desert wil make their haunt there and owls fill their houses, there ostriches wil settletheir home, there goats will dance.

²² Hyenas wil howl in its towers, jackals in its delightful palaces, for its doom is about to come and itsdays wil not last long.